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Talk:BETA/@comment-27194581-20151111143100/@comment-4391208-20151112012317
''If you want to compare Battletech Mechs with something in the BetaVerse, compare them with TSAs, that would be more fitting! '' Not exactly true. If the TSF is a jet, the 'Mech is a tank armed with weapons powerful enough to pay back the jet in one shot what the jet would need more than a dozen to do to the tank. Asymmetrical comparison, where the advantages of one side in a few attributes are so great they make up for shortfalls in the others. Heavy 'Mechs like the Atlas do cap out their speed at sub-100km/h (the first Atlas, specifically, at 54km/h). This is more than compensated for by the x4 medium lasers they carry, missile launchers, and an autocannon. Specific variants remove a weapon for a PPC, which is best described as a pocket Susanoo cannon that you can fire over and over again. The prowess of the BETA comes from their unbreakable vanguard line of Destroyers, which serves to disrupt defensive formations. Not much for a 'Mech that can instantly flip the tables by melting down the BETA vanguard. 'Mech armor is universally projectile-resistant, reactive, and ablative; a clear direction taken since after spending so long trying to kill each other on these heavy lumbering platforms they have developed means to make the winner the last man standing. The only differing quality is the amount of it. Light 'Mechs are light for a reason, but beyond that most Medium and Heavies will take torrential amounts of autocannon/laser fire without breaking their stride; a TSF's main weapon being the 36mm chaingun, this is bad news for TSFs without spare 120mm magazines; it takes too long for 36mm to be able to do anything of appreciation. I wouldn't recommend hitting armor with blades either, considering that some models of 'Mechs have their own to hit back with; and at the end of the day rapid-fire medium lasers are really not to be underestimated at any range whatsoever. If you recall the F-4 Phantom epitomized a heavily-armored design until operators realized that enemy counterfire (the Laser-class) was far beyond whatever armor they had or could develop in feasible time; hence the shift to attack avoidance and destruction of key targets for strategic results - laserjagd and Hive raids, resulting in high-speed strike units intended to tie up the frontlines by virtue of being able to relocate firing positions quickly. In BattleTech the parallel increase in power and armor over the ages results in superheavy armored behemoths that let you brew a coffee in the time it takes to walk 50 km, but compensates for it by being able to give what humanity in MLUL/A has been looking for a long time - attrition firepower that lets you stand ground and blast away. If you pit the two together in an advantage-less, ground-level, flat field, the victory will go to whomever takes the least damage proportionate to their units in a classic "speester vs tank" scenario. A 'Mech may run into issues targeting a TSF pulling evasive, but the margin for error for the 'Mech pilot is vastly larger than the margin given to the TSF pilot.